In September 2011, Van Hunt released the album “What Were You Hoping For”. Slightly different than his previous albums, this one made it in the Top 50 on Billboard’s Top R&B/ Hip Hop Albums list. Van tells me the record “has more to do with my growth as a musician/songwriter than as a project with an origin I could point to. But I’ll cite the moment I began photographing Los Angeles – in 2007 – as the beginning. I actually relate the “rock guitars” to the growl of a cello. The distortion on our record was supposed to emulate Bach’s cello suites and The Stooges’ “Raw Power” or Bad Brains’ “Pay to Cum”. I wanted to mix that with softer/soulful vocals. The mixing engineer, Melissa Mattey, provided the rest.”

The album has been met with acclaim from The New York Times, LA Times, People Magazine, and, of course, KCRW.